Research on Marketing Strategies of Female-Oriented Games Based

on SWOT Analysis: Taking Paper Folding Game as an Examples

Qinying Li

International Digital Economy College, Minjiang University, Xiyuan Palace Road, China

Keywords: Female-Oriented Games, Marketing Strategy, Technological Innovation, Branding, User Experience.

Abstract: In recent years, the female-oriented game market has shown rapid growth and gradually developed into an

important segment of the game industry. This study takes the Paper Folding Game as a typical case and applies

case study method to explore the internal logic of its competitive advantage in the market through the

construction of immersive experience and differentiated branding strategy. The study finds that in the

dimension of an immersive experience, Paper Folding Game not only constructs highly realistic virtual scenes

through the organic fusion of 3D real-time rendering technology and first-person narrative perspective, but

also innovatively designs a full-dimensional customisation system for the character image and a life-like

physical interaction mechanism, which significantly enhances the intensity of users' emotional projection. At

the level of brand strategy, the company has successfully accumulated of users' emotional capital by building

a differentiated brand image, adopting IP matrix development and cross-media narrative strategy. At the level

of technological innovation, Folding Paper integrates cloud gaming and extended reality technology to break

through terminal limitations and enhance interaction depth. Practitioners are advised to continuously optimise

their technical architecture, deepen their insights into user needs, and improve the digital copyright protection

system.

1 INTRODUCTION

According to the estimation of Dot Data, the revenue

scale of China's mobile game market in 2024 is about

284.33 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate

of 10.74%, which is a new breakthrough compared

with the high point once in 2021. In this booming

market environment, female-oriented games show

great commercial value and social influence. Since the

release of the female-oriented love and nurturing

game Mr Love: Dream Date in 2017, it has been loved

by the majority of female players and brought

considerable economic benefits. This phenomenon

has drawn the attention of game companies to the large

and long-neglected group of female players, and they

have been developing similar types of games, which

has pushed female-oriented mobile games to become

a new development direction of digital publishing (Li,

2022).

The year 2024 is known in the industry as ‘the year

of female-oriented games’. According to SevenMac

Data and Gamma Data, compared with the previous

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3211-4843

year, the market size of female-oriented games has

increased by more than 124%, far exceeding the

increase of other types of games. A series of high-

quality and characteristic female-oriented games have

been launched, and have achieved remarkable results

in terms of market scale and explosive games, which

not only bring new development opportunities for the

game industry, but also provide more diversified game

experiences for female players. Among them, in

January 2024, stacked paper game preparation for

many years of Love and Deepspace officially online,

only three days after the service, global downloads

exceeded 10 million, and in the domestic many times

on top of the iOS new sales list, become the biggest

dark horse in 2024 female-oriented games, and

promote the strong circle of otome games. It can be

seen that female-oriented games occupy an

increasingly important position in China's game

market, and also provide new ideas and directions for

the development of the industry. Game companies

should pay attention to the needs of female gamers and

formulate effective marketing strategies to further

Li, Q.

Research on Mar keting Strategies of Female-Oriented Games Based on SWOT Analysis: Taking Paper Folding Game as an Examples.

DOI: 10.5220/0013847700004719

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics (ICEML 2025), pages 477-481

ISBN: 978-989-758-775-7

477

expand this market. In an ultra-competitive market,

mobile games are constantly seeking to attract new

players while maintaining the activity of existing

users. To achieve this goal, developers often rely on

diverse promotional strategies, cross-platform

linkages, and data analytics to optimise the player

experience. By carefully observing player behaviour,

they are able to flexibly adjust game difficulty, set

incentives and improve features to maximise user

retention. Conversely, games that fail to sustainably

activate user engagement may be quickly eliminated

from the market (Pamungkas et al., 2025). In this

paper, we will use the disadvantages and threats

section of the SWOT matrix to analyse the conflict

between the escalating demand of female players and

the shortcomings of paper-stacking games.

The object of this paper is to study the marketing

strategies of female-oriented games in terms of

immersive experience as well as branding differences.

In recent years, with the rising demand for game

change among female players, the game industry has

gradually paid attention to this huge female consumer

group. According to the market phenomenon of Love

and Deep Space-its launch exceeded ten million

downloads in three days and peaked at the iOS charts

several times. This paper will discuss the specific

factors that have contributed to the success of Stacked

Paper Games' products through the strengths and

opportunities in the SWOT matrix.

2 MARKETING STRATEGY

ANALYSIS OF PAPER

FOLDING GAME

2.1 SWOT Matrix Analysis

2.1.1 Advantages (Strengths)

Stacked Paper Games has achieved remarkable results

in technological research and development, taking its

product Love and Deepspace as an example. These

advanced technology research and development

results not only enhance the quality and

competitiveness of Stacked Paper Games' products

but also provide unique advantages for Stacked Paper

Games in terms of technological innovation and

product differentiation.

Real-time rendering technology enhances visual

experience. Folding Paper Games' product Love and

Deepspace uses 3D real-time rendering technology

and presents the plot mostly from a first-person

perspective. In terms of aesthetics, the depth-of-field

effect dynamically adjusts the sharpness of the screen

to keep the focal object clear while the background is

naturally defocused, thus highlighting key elements

and enhancing the sense of hierarchy in the screen

(Shao, 2025). Analysed from a psychological point of

view, in virtual environments, the system presents the

spatial observation point according to the user's line of

sight is not static or dynamic and linear, but

theoretically contains infinite possible observation

angles, and this degree of freedom provides the

conditions for immersion. The system of Love and

Deepspace can instantly generate the corresponding

screen according to the player's operation, so that a

high degree of immersion can be achieved in the

process of plot advancement, which is one of the

outstanding factors that it is highly praised by

consumers.

Meanwhile, with the help of cloud computing,

real-time rendering also plays a key role in cloud game

modeling. The game screen is instantly rendered on

the server side and then transmitted to the player's

terminal, which not only relieves the pressure of local

storage and computing but also broadens the

application scenarios of the game. For example, Love

and Deepspace provides smooth experience for

mobile device players with insufficient memory

through the cloud game mode, thus expanding the user

group and market coverage.

Real-time rendering technology can seamlessly

integrate virtual elements with the real world in AR

games, allowing virtual characters to appear in the real

world and display more realistically and naturally,

bringing players a new interactive experience. In VR

games, real-time rendering requires simultaneous

processing of both eyes to ensure low latency and high

frame rate to prevent vertigo and discomfort.

Currently Love and Deepspace is working on the

development of Vision Pro version, which indicates

that in the future players are expected to experience

the immersive feeling of ‘lovers’ interaction directly

in reality.

2.1.2 Disadvantages (Weaknesses)

There are irrationalities in the design of some of the

game systems of the paper stacking game, resulting in

poor player experience. For example, in Miracle

Nikki, the numerical system is not capped, and it is

very difficult for new players to catch up with the

progress of old players' battle power, which affects the

game experience of new players. The irrationality in

the system design of paper stacking games mainly

stems from the short-sightedness of long-term

operation planning and the imbalance of player

ICEML 2025 - International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics

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stratification strategy. For example, the design of the

numerical value system in Miracle Nikki, which has

no upper limit, overly relies on ‘numerical expansion’

to stimulate consumption and lacks a dynamic

balancing mechanism, which makes it difficult for

new players to catch up due to the large gap in battle

power, and old players form a solid ecology due to

monopoly of resources.

Paper Stacking Game also has some problems in

activity arrangement, such as unreasonable activity

slot setting, resulting in players needing to cope with

multiple activities within a short period of time, which

increases the burden of the game on the players. The

unreasonable activity arrangement is closely related to

the excessive pursuit of short-term revenue targets and

inefficient cross-departmental synergy. In order to

sprint water intensively launched paid activities,

ignoring the player's time and payment threshold,

superimposed on the planning, operation team

communication disconnect, resulting in activity

scheduling conflicts, rewards repeated. This kind of

problem exacerbates the pressure of players' liver and

krypton, triggering resistance and even collective

protests, and the conversion rate of payment declines

instead of rising; at the same time, homogenised

activities lead to a waste of development resources and

diminishing marginal returns, which ultimately

undermines the sustainability of the game's long-term

operation.

The peripheral products of the paper stacking

game also have certain quality problems, affecting

players' purchasing experience and trust in the brand.

Peripheral product quality problems expose the double

shortcomings of supply chain management and IP

derivatives strategy. The choice of low-priced

factories and the lack of quality control reflect the

short-sighted thinking of enterprises to compress costs

at the expense of quality, peripheral as a ‘traffic cash

tool’. Low-quality peripherals not only directly led to

the decline in the willingness of players to repurchase,

derivatives revenue growth is weak but also triggered

the ‘leek-cutting’ question, and collateral damage to

the game body trust.

2.1.3 Opportunities

With the continuous development and growth of the

global game market, especially the emerging markets

such as Southeast Asia, South America and other

regions of the video game market shows a rapid

growth trend. Folding Paper Games can take

advantage of its strengths in the field of female-

oriented games to develop new market space by

launching game products suitable for the local culture

and social background in response to the

characteristics and needs of these emerging markets.

Among them, the Philippines, as one of the fastest-

growing video game markets in Southeast Asia,

offers significant opportunities for Paper Stacking

Games' female-oriented products. The country's

young population accounts for more than 60% of the

population, with a high penetration rate of

smartphones, and the consumption power of female

gamers is rapidly increasing, especially the demand

for love and grooming and dress-up games is strong.

On the cultural level, the influence of Western pop

culture has made it more receptive to romantic

storylines, and it also has the potential to link local

festivals (e.g., the Christmas season) and celebrity

resources (the SB19 girl group), which can enhance

IP suitability.

2.1.4 Threats

Firstly, the female-oriented game market has strong

competitors. With the continuous expansion of the

female-oriented game market and the increase in

profit potential, more and more game manufacturers

have entered this field, intensifying market

competition. Domestic female games have formed a

pattern of ‘four major domestic female games’ since

Mr Love: Dream Date started the market in 2017,

with Tencent, Mihayou and other big companies

entering the market one after another, while new

works such as Love and Deepspace and Far Beyond

the World are on the rise (Yan et al., 2024). Second,

intellectual property protection is still lacking. With

the huge investment in online game development, the

current ‘skinning’ and plagiarism in the market

erodes the interests of the originals, and legal

protection is urgently needed to curb the market chaos

and maintain the healthy development of the industry.

For example, the white hair and red eyes of Sylus in

Love and Deepspace are not only considered to be a

‘clash’ with Evan, the character of Light and Night,

but the silver hair and black winged bird elements

also clash with the design of the character of Light

and Night, Charlie.

3 SUGGESTIONS FOR

MARKETING STRATEGY

BASED ON SWOT

3.1 SO Strategy

3.1.1 Build a Diversified IP Matrix

With the existing core advantages of Paper Stacking

Game in terms of immersive experience and

technological innovation, the game company should

Research on Marketing Strategies of Female-Oriented Games Based on SWOT Analysis: Taking Paper Folding Game as an Examples

479

further promote the IP matrix development strategy.

The multi-channel accumulation of users' emotional

capital can be achieved by constructing a character

universe system with cross-media narratives

(including animation, radio drama, offline script-

killing, etc.) The shift from PGC to UGC is reshaping

the gaming industry due to the development of

generative AI, especially in the field of RPGs (Zhang

et al., 2024). Game companies can introduce UGC

(user-generated content) mechanisms and fan co-

creation platforms to enhance user engagement and

brand belonging and help expand the IP ecosystem in

depth.

3.1.2 Layout of Emerging Overseas Markets

In light of the global trend of increasing demand for

female-oriented games, Jupiter should export its

superior products to emerging markets with high

cultural affinity and high mobile terminal penetration

rate, such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. The

Philippines, for example, has a user base and

consumption potential, so it can adopt the strategy of

“content localisation + cultural adaptation”, design

customised plots and activities in combination with

local language, festivals and idol culture, and pry up

the market increment through lightweight payment

and social communication.

3.2 WO Strategy

3.2.1 Innovating Core Gameplay Mechanics

The core of the game is the core mechanism and

gameplay (Slevin, 2021). In order to deal with the

structural shortcomings in the design of the paper

stacking game system, diversified gameplay such as

‘dynamic catch-up mechanism’ and ‘social

collaboration copy’ should be introduced to improve

the long-term balance of the game and the

friendliness of newcomers, and to avoid the

contradiction of stratification caused by numerical

value fixation. At the same time, the gameplay

evolution mechanism combining AI dynamic plot

generation and player behaviour analysis should be

explored to enhance the depth of interaction and

personalized experience.

3.2.2 Optimise the Structure of the Payment

System

The current revenue strategy of over-reliance on

kryptonite is likely to lead to the loss of users and

should be shifted to an ‘emotion-driven payment’

system. When players invest their time and energy in

a game, they will usually act around one or more

goals (Cai and Cortiñas, 2022). It is recommended to

adopt moderate business models such as subscription

system, chapter unlocking, and companion

interactive passes, and provide players with one or

more clearly achievable goal tasks during the output

of the game content, to reduce payment anxiety and

increase the conversion rate. Especially in overseas

markets, mild payment mechanisms that support local

payment channels should be introduced to lower the

user threshold and enhance cultural fitness.

3.3 ST Strategy

3.3.1 Differentiated Narrative Experience to

Build Brand Barriers

Against the backdrop of the increasing

homogenisation of female-oriented games in China,

Folding Paper Games should continue to take

“immersive first-person narrative + real-time

rendering technology”as the core to deepen its unique

competitive advantage of integrating technology and

narrative. Extended Reality (XR), gamification and

serious games are all ways of integrating technology

and interactive experience, of which XR is an

emerging technology that realises seamless

interaction between virtual and real environments,

covering both VR and AR (Marín et al., 2023).

Customised versions of XR (Extended Reality)

devices, such as Vision Pro-based interactive

simulation systems, can be further developed to

enhance the realism and immersion of virtual

relationship experiences.

3.3.2 Enhance Players' Emotional Stickiness

Build an emotional binding mechanism around “long-

term companionship”, for example, establish a social

retrospective system such as a “relationship profile”

and “annual review” of players and characters, so as

to enhance users' psychological projection of virtual

characters. Psychological projection of users to

virtual characters. At the same time, we carry out

ceremonial operations in conjunction with character

birthdays and anniversaries, forming a virtuous cycle

of daily user participation and content co-creation.

3.4 WT Strategy

3.4.1 Promote Compliance and Intellectual

Property Protection

The traditional copyright theory is difficult to define

the nature of game play, and the lack of a clear

framework leads to problems in legal applicability

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(Wang, 2023). Against the background of frequent

plagiarism disputes and weak quality control of

peripheral products, enterprises should strengthen

compliance management of IP assets, improve the

original setting filing mechanism and copyright early

warning system, and establish a risk control

mechanism for the whole process from character

design to market dissemination. At the same time,

improve the quality standard and quality control

process of peripheral products, reshape the brand

trust, and avoid users' perception of IP derivatives as

“cutting leeks”.

3.4.2 Precise Penetration of Multiple

Market Segments

Players invest in parallel customisation not only to

shape the experience to fit their personal preferences,

but also to reflect the shift in game design from

physical dependency to experience orientation,

prompting users to invest financially in personalised

processes (Sampedro and Valente, 2023). As female-

oriented game users have become highly diversified,

Stacked Paper Games can launch customised

products for different demographics, such as

psychological healing-oriented relationship

simulations for middle-aged women, or realistic

interactive products centred on life narratives.

Through the diversification of content themes,

interaction methods and art styles, we can broaden the

coverage of users and build a product matrix with

stronger anti-risk ability.

4 CONCLUSION

This paper analyses the marketing strategies of

female-oriented games and takes the Paper Folding

Game as an example to discuss its success experience,

advantages, challenges and market opportunities.

Technological innovation and immersive

experience are the core drivers of market competition

for female-oriented games. Paper Stacking Game

uses 3D real-time rendering, cloud gaming, VR/AR

technology and other means to significantly improve

players' immersion and interactive experience. The

success of Love and Deepspace demonstrates that the

female-oriented game market no longer relies solely

on plot and characterisation but rather moves towards

innovation at a higher technological level. In the

future, game companies will need to continue to

optimise their technology and combine it with

cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence to

provide players with a more personalised and realistic

emotional experience in order to remain competitive

in the market.

As market competition intensifies, brand

differentiation and intellectual property protection

have become key. To stay ahead of the competition,

game makers not only need to innovate gameplay, but

also make deep efforts in branding, IP operation and

fan economy. Meanwhile, the market is becoming

increasingly sensitive to intellectual property issues,

and game companies need to strengthen the

uniqueness of character design to avoid being caught

up in ‘plagiarism’ disputes due to similar character

settings, and to maintain brand value and player

loyalty.

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